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Section 117 aftercare and care-home fees
Can Section 117 aftercare cover care-home fees?
It can, where the accommodation or care is genuinely part of the person's Section 117 aftercare. Qualifying Section 117 aftercare is provided without charge and is not means-tested. But not every service or every element of a care-home bill automatically falls within Section 117, so the aftercare plan, the person's qualifying Mental Health Act history and the purpose of the service all need to be checked.
Reviewed 17 September 2026 by Paris Theodorou, Solicitor & Principal.
The basic rule
What is Section 117 aftercare?
Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 imposes a joint aftercare duty on the responsible NHS body and local authority for people who fall within the statutory scheme after certain qualifying forms of detention or treatment. The aftercare must address needs arising from or related to the person's mental disorder and be intended to reduce the risk of deterioration and readmission.
Section 117 is a different legal funding route from NHS Continuing Healthcare. A family should not be pushed into a CHC or ordinary means-tested social-care route without first checking whether relevant services are already the responsibility of the Section 117 aftercare bodies.
Charges
Section 117 aftercare services should not be charged for
Where a service is properly provided as Section 117 aftercare, the person should not be charged for that aftercare service. This is why identifying the legal basis for a care-home placement or support package matters: a service funded under Section 117 is not simply ordinary means-tested social care.
Accommodation can be relevant
Accommodation may form part of Section 117 aftercare where it is necessary to meet needs arising from or related to the person's mental disorder and serves the statutory aftercare purpose. Accommodation is not automatically Section 117 merely because the person has a mental-health history.
Other costs may sit outside Section 117
The package must be analysed service by service. Ordinary living costs or services unrelated to the statutory aftercare purpose may be treated differently. Ask what is actually included in the aftercare plan and why.
The duty is joint
Health and local-authority bodies should plan and arrange the qualifying aftercare together. Funding disputes between public bodies should not obscure the person's entitlement to properly identified aftercare.
It is not means-tested
Entitlement to Section 117 aftercare does not depend on the person's savings or property. That is a critical distinction from means-tested local-authority social-care charging.
Who should check this?
When should a family investigate Section 117?
The person was previously detained for treatment under a Mental Health Act provision that may trigger Section 117.
There is, or should be, a Section 117 aftercare plan.
A care-home or supported-accommodation placement is linked to mental-health needs or avoiding deterioration/readmission.
The family is being asked to pay charges without a clear explanation of which services fall inside or outside Section 117.
Responsibility appears to be moving between the ICB and local authority without a clear funding decision.
The first documents to obtain are usually the discharge/aftercare plan, records identifying the legal basis of detention, reviews of the Section 117 plan and the funding or placement decision.
Section 117 vs CHC
How is Section 117 different from NHS Continuing Healthcare?
Section 117
A statutory aftercare duty linked to qualifying Mental Health Act detention/treatment history and aftercare needs related to mental disorder. Qualifying aftercare is free.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
A separate NHS funding route for adults whose assessed needs amount to a primary health need. It is also not means-tested, but eligibility is decided under the National Framework rather than by Section 117 status.
The right route depends on what service is being funded and why. In some cases different parts of a person's overall care may engage different legal responsibilities.
If fees have already been paid
Start by identifying the legal basis for the care
A historic payment does not by itself prove that a refund is due. The useful question is whether the public bodies should have been providing the relevant service under Section 117, CHC or another funding duty during the period in question. That requires the records, aftercare plan and funding decisions to be reconstructed carefully.
Read our guide to reclaiming care-home fees →Unsure why care fees are being charged?
Check the funding route before assuming it is a CHC claim
If the person has a Mental Health Act history and care-home fees are being charged, send us the aftercare, placement and funding documents you have so the correct legal route can be identified.